There are many reasons the joining and dropping rate for joining the Real Estate family as a full-time professional Realtor is high.

Correct me if I am wrong team leaders, but the true and the hard facts of helping every team mates to the best of your extent does not always help and sometimes it might even backfire on you.

Before any individuals who decided to join the industry, these are thoughts which should be useful to form some opinions of our industry before you plough your money and time into joining us (yes, before you even take your RES course please),

Joining a Good Group Does Not Guarantee Your Success

Your group has the brand. It is known in the industry to be successful, to have the know-how, and most importantly, they close sales effectively.

Having such benefits is a great advantage as a new Realtor (or even a Realtor who has been hopping around in order to get such support) as he/ she could take advantage of such branding as a big group of brothers and sisters are behind him/her supporting. The air is great, you have the right and positive environment to start.

But when you are in the big RAH RAH group with the correct people to learn from and think with such a backing, you could be successful without doing anything on your end, you are prepared to fail, which brings me to the next point,

Sitting and Waiting for Things To Happen

This is the worse that could ever happen. A mentor along my way has mentioned this very visually why technically, the titles given by agencies were misleading. You are already a business person when you start to join the trade. You are not under anyone’s payroll. Nobody is your boss.

Seriously, you’re on your own.

If you think your team leaders are suppose to give you valuable leads or hand snooze you along the way till your success, don’t be fooled. You as a proactive business person, should be looking for sources proactively. If you think you lack the knowledge to achieve something, make sure you go pick up the skills. Ask! Read! Look around! Ask your other team mates! Ask all the right people to find the right answers!

The right team leaders will advice and ask you to do the right things in which that does not exhaust your finances along the way to success. If they haven’t been, it is your responsibility to ask and seek their help; and if you have tried and not gotten the knowledge and the know-how skills, then its your mentor’s fault. Which brings me again to the very next crucial reason why most Realtors fail

Bad Financial Planning

Some Realtors started out with no savings, some do. Some have a vehicle to use and some don’t have the luxury of it.

The whole idea would be to plan everything right before you start properly. Any cash in hand is your life-line to the business. Mentors would guide you along the way to do financial planning with you and advice you accordingly which category suits you more often because of your advantage over others. They might even partner you with someone else in the team to split the financial risks.

There’s a reason why some Realtors prefer serving buyers, or owners; tenants or landlords.

Sitting and waiting at home for instructions from your “manager” or “director”, think advertising all the overly priced listings on a 4 to 5 line advertorial on SPH Classifieds and you could be laughing your way to the bank, be absolutely grim about it because nothing is going to happen.

Advertising is costly. Be proactive. Or sink with a bigger hole because of the time and money commitment that you have already put in and you eventually will fall out.

Not Committed to Your Craft

You are going to be a Marketeer. You are going to be a Lead Generator. You are going to be a Negotiator, and finally, you are going to be a Closer.

These are the 4 main processes of a Realtor, but to be truly effective, you have so many things to learn and execute. All the processes are so important that you need time and dedication to each. No hard and fast rules.

You see good Realtors doing door knocking and cold calling to generate selling leads. Online marketing and offline marketing to sell properties, negotiating on prices, expectations to lead to closings. Even things that sound simple; effective communication skills.

Responsibility of even much simpler things like picking up your phone calls and responding to miss calls if any, is a core set of our business.

Reality is harsh. All are skills which has to be honed overtime. There’s no overnight success, only a prolong journey of learning (even for the most experienced ones) and practicing of your craft. If you haven’t been discipline and proactive to find out what you are suppose to do and to keep practicing till you get your skills right, do not blame anyone if you lack that perseverance before you see results.

There’s No One Standard Route to Success

Some people might take longer to see the results, some people could see immediate results depending on the route that you choose. There’s no one path that will lead you to success. Everyone has their difference instances.

Realtors have so many form of path to choose from, it might be even scary to think of. Sales or rental? Residential? Commercial? Light Industrial?

You could follow the right things in which your mentor and the rest of the successful team mate does and just replicate the right mentality, and the right methods they share with you. But nobody tells you you should follow from A-Z, you could start from C, back to A and come back to Z again.

Having said that, I have never regretted joining the industry 5 years ago right after my regular army life to a good company and now a great team. The perks is unparalleled as the sky would be your limit, rags to riches opportunity levels in this field.

Your time is ultimately yours; Clients happy testimonies and rewarding experiences, great selfless team players in the team assisting one another. Apart from making a living, its also all about the experience…

I’m blessed. And I hope you will be if you could take my two cents with you when you join any able leader to guide you. Shalom.

No related posts.

With Singapore climbs out of technical recession with 20.4 growth percent in Q2 this 2009, the government has also raised its growth forecast for the months to come. With much credits to the government and her people, Singapore is the first Asean country to move out of a technical recession.

Will we continue to fair much better? It seems there’s still much life in our daily lives, trades and walks of live in our own country hasn’t been much affected by claims of the worst recession in years, no doubt we’re in good hands.

Primary New Home Sales Up 9.4% in June

1,825 homes were sold in June, tiding over the figures of May by 9.4%

The fuel mostly came from 8@Woodleigh in Potong Pasir which attributes to 330 units of the sale. The median price sold was at $804 psf. Other residential projects which added the numbers were Martin Place Residence, Nathan Residences, One Devonshire and Vista Residences.

Foreign Investors Back?

Foreign buyers are slowly creeping back into the country as the high-end luxury segment seems to be moving as well. Two units were sold recently at Nassim Park Residences by its developer at above $3,000 per square foot (psf), one of them at $3,813 psf.

In the sub-sale market, a caveat has surfaced for a 37th floor unit at The Orchard Residences at about $3,550 psf last month.

Caveats have also been lodged for transactions of three units at The Ardmore Park at $2,375-$2,513 psf, and for a sub-sale deal at Marina Bay Residences at $2,200 psf in June.

A Possible Start of Another Bubble?

With Singapore snapping out of technical recession in the second quarter, observers said this may inject more confidence in the property sector.

The figures are definitely going to be affected from end of August to mid September onwards because of Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival (20th August – 18th September), but should the momentum continue to swing forward after the period, it could possibly be a strong rally.

Related posts:

1. Facelift for ION Orchard’s & Tangs Plaza Underpass

Singapore Real Estate Market Moving Again?

In the Market

As a Realtor in the market, things are moving unexpectedly towards the upside with projects that I’ve dealt with. Owners are holding back to accept cheques from my fellow colleagues as their expectation might have change with the recent rally of stock prices in Singapore Stock Exchange.

It happened right in front of me, the one time my buyer offers for a particular resale unit in City Square Residences and was rejected, the next day it got sold. And it didn’t happen just once. The one day that one of my buyer wanted to match the expectation of a sub-sale unit, the owner has sold it the night before hitting a considerable good target price for this market.

Developers are Adjusting Prices

Double Bay Residences in Simei by UOL & Kheng Leong

Property Giant Far East Organisation has been quietly adjusting its prices for their new projects like the Mi Casa condo in Choa Chu Kang, The Lakeshore in Jurong, Hillview Regency in Bukit Batok, Floridian at Bukit Timah Road (non-premium units), and Vida at Peck Hay Road.

UOL and Kheng Leong have adjusted their price units slightly higher for the better units at Double Bay Residences.

Bukit Sembawang have also nudged its price of The Verdure higher after the initial launch.

CDL’s hotcake, The Arte have also seen a little price hike on their units as their sales take momentum.

Developers are moving in tandem together to show the market that the price is picking up with the clear buying momentum that the buyers are coming back.

End of the Bottom?

I’m sure if you ask any of the ethical agents out there, they’ll tell you they’re unsure. I wouldn’t know whether the market direction is heading towards the north or the south, but its edging more towards the upside for the moment because of buying momentum.

Again, buying a Singapore property at this time would be safe since we’re still at a bottom curve, whether is it or not if its heading for a correction towards the down or upside. One thing, the property market cycle is getting shorter and shorter as compared to the 7 years guideline we hear from gurus previously.

For people who’re buying for their own stay (and to make some capital gains at the end to move out), this is still a good time to start looking and locking in with the low bank interest rates.

And for home owners or investors who’re taking the chance to exit the market, this would probably be your best golden opportunity to do so, unless you’re betting again that the market is moving towards your favor.

No related posts.

How Punggol Marina looks like 2 years back, photo credits to elkin, Clubsnap

How a short period of time has changed a place so tremendously.

Nicholas and I used to wakeboard regularly at Punggol Marina 2 years back with WakeTime and we knew there were development plans to close the channel where we used to ride. It was for quite sometime the announcement before the Police Coast Guards started to become serious and kept chasing our boats away. Since then, Nicholas and I stopped riding for awhile because of work commitment and wakeboard activities has moved to Seletar waters. Sad.

I caught up with a friend for a drink at the Marina yesterday. Gone was the smooth buttery flat channel which was totally dammed up with some sort of a station. Guess this has got to do with the plans that URA/HDB has laid out for Punggol 21 which was mentioned in 1996, and still reinforced in the recently gazetted Master Plan 2008.

High Quality HDB Flats in Punggol

Night view of Punggol Estate. Photo credits: Missy - verysporty, Flickr

Since 1996′s released plan by the government to develop Punggol, the estate has been on its track with its vision on building high quality HDB Flats, LRT and MRT lines to populate the area. And with the introduction of Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), residences here have improved road network to shorten the time span to travel to the city.

5 Room Punggol Premium Sold

Low floor, 3 minutes to immediate amenties such as supermarket, kopi-tiam, LRT SOLD!

Design-and-Built and Design-plus flats were being offered then and we can see resale market is floating with movements of Punggol flats. The price has since been climbing steadily since 2005.

Punggol also has a strongly knitted community amongst residences. New happenings in Punggol? Things to take note such as watching out for hustlers or even having new community activities? Check out Punggol.org.

A Future Sports Complex, a Club House and a Reservoir

A new SAFRA clubhouse integrating a sports complex will be built in Punggol Central for the future convenience of dwelling residents. Coming 2010, we’ll have a new Punggol Reservoir. The new reservoir banks will feature unique plantations and more sports complex for Sengkang residents. The most catchy feature would be its fruit themed floating man-made wetland, which will become a habitat for fishes and birds.

Artiste Impression of Punggol Reservoir and Wetland from URA

2010′s Punggol Point and Punggol East

With the gazetted URA Master Plan 2008, a brand new waterfront promenade project awarded to LOOK Architects (The same award winning architect house whom brought you the iconic Alexandra Arch) will be ready in 2010 for residents of Punggol and Sengkang. A 4.2km waterway will connect Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon together, with promenades on both sides running through Punggol Town.

Artiste Impression of Future Punggol Town Centre from URA

Imagine water activities such as kayaking and waterfront dining at Punggol Point. This will definitely enhance the ‘Play’ mission of URA’s and improve the lifestyle living of the residents. You can read more about promenade details here.

Punggol Showroom Sold!

Unblocked, high floor, convenient amenities, show room condition! Sold!

Will Punggol 21 be Singapore’s answer to Venice? It’s a big statement, but give it sometime I’m sure it’ll still be impressive

Related posts:

1. Punggol Promenade Starts Work

image credit: arboltsef

The Case

Awhile ago I was with my client who has give me exclusive to market her place in Sunny Palms (D15 – Telok Kurau) and also to find and secure her a new place.

She was mentioning about this rogue agent (name not mentioned) who actually has an expatriate couple who might be interested in the place;

The agent mentioned to my home owner his interest to go directly to her and advised her how to go about nullifying my exclusive by writing in to Knight Frank. Fortunately my client is very responsible to me and told him that unless he’s able to fetch even higher price to pay the both of us, else undercutting is totally out of scope.

Well, this happens from time to time with the cut throat business’s risks that we have to bear.

Which Reminds Me of Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching!

There’s a chapter in Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching on Competition means prepare to be your best which damns people like these and yet it reminds me to be always at my best while I’m at my job.

Principle 27 of Cha Ching (abstract from Jeffrey Gitomer’s Book)

1) Going over the competition

The ideal way to win. It assumes that you take the high ground. It doesn’t mean sit back and wait. It means rise above in such a way that the competition has to respond or lose. Here are a few “over” ways: e-zine, seminars, and referrals. Building value by building profit. Earn testimonials and using them to get “over” again.

2) Ignore competition

I go for “best”, not “beat.” It’s a better, cleaner win.

Do I always win? No. But I always feel I should have. And I have a self confidence that keeps me ready for the next opportunity. I wake up the next day and go to work sharpening my skills.

Ethics Please

While I work on my code of conduct and bringing the best to my customers, it still fumes me a little with such scum being in our industry.

Play fair if you’re in this for the long run, else we’re sure to cross each others path one day and should you need any help, I’m sure it will backfire with one or another fellow agent some days.

No related posts.

I think this is unevitable, especially with many criticisms and suggestions coming from the public in the recent months after the case of two unethical agents flipping their marketing unit without taking care of the principle’s interest.

Whenever discussions and complains come directly at the press especially ST Forums, the statutory boards will be acting quickly on them, which is a good thing. Recently MND Minister Mah Bow Tan and Senior Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua has mentioned to Parliament on the review of unscrupulous agents.

Now what will the government come out with to regulate Realtors? Will they work closely with SAEA or IEA? Will CEHA be compulsory?

Before they really come out with something firm, I’d wish they have a talk with most major agencies on what should be enforced to still encourage room for the growth and healthy competition for the real estate market in Singapore.

Times are changing, and with regulatories stepping up to clean up the industry, only creame of the crop will be standing and giving their best to the customers they serve.

Rest assure things will happen really soon for Realtors in Singapore. A good thing isn’t it?

No related posts.

Especially during the peak hours. I didn’t know it’s so serious until I kicked off the car to head towards Mount Faber SAFRA to fully utilise the EnergyOne membership I have. Being health conscious in Singapore isn’t easy, especially when it starts off with the travelling to sweat.

The Journey

First gantry, $1.00 towards PIE (PIE after Kallang Bahru on Woodsville Flyover), that’s fine *accelerates.

Second gantry $3.50 towards CTE (PIE into CTE). $3.50!? I know people who crosses ERP on daily charges of up to almost $20.00 a day for a stretch and sympathize with them, but you’ll have to experience it real-time to feel the pain.

Track your ERP Spendings

Sign up for Motorpay to keep track of your ERP spendings and to avoid spending on $10.00 administrative fees of insufficient cashcard fund.

Do your planning before you head out if you’re always on the road.Or better still, gym at 7am to avoid the ERP charges.

No related posts.

I was reading the article on Sunday Times today with regards to ‘Licence All Agents, Says Experts‘. It really sets me pondering on whether an accredition of all local property realtors in Singapore is going to help the situation of having unethical fellow mates weeded out;

After all, this would be an industry which has no boundaries in terms of its potential income yield, depending on how hardworking and street smart the realtor is.

Government Stepping In To Regulate Real Estate Industry a Boon or a Foe?

With the government stepping in to regulate this industry, that means there won’t be a freeplay or freedom which Realtors are enjoying now. I can’t think of any current job industries apart from the medical/ lawyer industries which require would-be doctors and lawyers to acquire a certain amount of academics before being able to practice their profession. If regulated, I would foresee older Realtors without proper education qualifications to be strike off from practicing their trades which would be really uncompassionate.

At the present moment, Singapore Realtors are not required to have any kind of academics; Basic 3 O’levels passes would suffice in almost all the Realty agencies. As long as you have a good basic command of English and understand the contract terms, you could be an agent.

The pro side of having a regulated industry would be systematic approaches in future real estate deals; again it doesn’t and probably won’t weed out totally of unethical agents.

I understand that both SAEA and IEA have their own set of rules for their accredited agents with a few strike rules and they’re out.

The Clash of IEA and SAEA

There has been always the clash of two titans of Singapore’s Real Estate groups on wanting to be the leader of regulating the industry, namely SAEA and the IEA, with both coming out their own accredition standards like CES (Common Examination for Salesperson) for SAEA and CEHA (Common Examination for Housing Agents) for IEA.

If the government would to step in and regulate the industry, who would it appoint to be the sole organisation to come out with the accredition? I for sure wouldn’t be bothered unless the Government or my agency supports me to get one of the accredition to show to my clients that I am accredited.

Bottom Line

I have passed my CEHA. So what does it do for me? As a Realtor, the reason why I did the tests was for more knowledge and to cover and learn as much as I can, and not for additional tagline advertising.

Whatever that would and must be delivered as a Realtor must be delivered from the heart. Being responsible for your actions, fair and just practices are all necessary in any industries, not just Real Estate. I would think the current law system in Singapore would suffice to protect unjust actions from buyers/ sellers or bad agents and we wouldn’t need the Government to step in to gung-ho the Singapore realtor’s realm.

I don’t think regulating the whole industry would be in any much help weed out all unfair or unscrupulous practices of the industry, but if the day comes, we’ll just have to get ready.

No related posts.

To all fellow realtors and every readers of mine a very happy and prosperous new year! May The Year of Ox in 2009 bring you good health, fortune and luck! Here’s something to share from Matt’s Yahoo property group.

Flickr credit: Code N

• Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
• Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to ‘scare away’ ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
• Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a “sweet” year.
• It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year’s Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, cleaning the house after New Year’s Day is frowned upon)
• Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Chinese people will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
• Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.
• The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.

As the hokkien saying goes… HUAT AH!

No related posts.

I know it’s absurd but it’s not suppose to cause any commotion. This might be my best deal buy from eBay ever.

A Holux 236B GPS Receiver for a dollar?!

This is what I did! HTC Touch Pro has this lagging problem with their internal GPS. The problem isn’t known yet whether it’s got to do with the ROM, Radio or the hardware.. To avoid the lag, I have an ex Holux Slim 236 (Version 1) which works perfectly but always drop its Bluetooth connection with my HTC Touch pro easily.

$1!

I’ve bid a dollar from sralls and got it from him with full box and accessories. Beaming my way home with the receiver successfully working with my Touch Pro, the B version definitely holds and works better in terms of blue tooth performance.

Well, you can’t totally say that you can’t get good buys at all nowadays on the internet

At least I got mine. *Scuttles for the next $1 bid in eBay.

No related posts.